Guiding Dives and Search & Recovery Assessments

For week 5 I thought I would give you a daily breakdown of what we get up top on the Divemaster internship.

Wednesday 
Today we went to Yellow Mountain with George, a diver who called into the shop a few days ago. I was given the chance to do the dive brief and lead the dives. The dive brief was not bad, but it still needs a little bit of work. I know I have the capabilities to give a good brief but it's always more difficult in front of a customer and Pete!

Our first dive was to Alien Rock, I led this dive whilst George and Pete buddied up and followed.
George, being a PADI Open Water Diver, was limited to 18 metres so our depth of the dive was 17.9 metres.
During the dive we saw an Octopus, Cuttle Fish, a massive Scorpion Fish, an abundance of Blue Fin-Damsel Fish, as always and lots of Bream.

We were also welcomed by a few Jellyfish (luckily I was not stung in the face this time), a few Cleaner Shrimp, and a few large Anemones.
For the next dive I was on my own without Pete to back me up! Pete manned the boat while I led again with Kim as George's Buddy. Unfortunately this dive only lasted only 20 minutes as George signalled to me that he was cold and so we headed back to the boat early. I was pleased, and relieved, that I was able to find my way without any help!
An afternoon of skills followed for Kim and me, and we seem to be getting there with the quality of our skills.

Thursday 
Today was a nice morning!!!!
We were to conduct our Kit Exchange (exchange of BCD, Fins and Mask) whilst Buddy Breathing (using only one regulator, taking two breaths and passing it over to your buddy to do the same)!!!
This was not an elegant attempt in the slightest. Eventually we completed the exercise, with lots of room for improvement.

Next, we did some skill demonstrations in the pool as well.
Kim and I also were set on trying our 800 metre snorkel again to see if we could beat our previous times.
We decided to give this a go in our shorties to see if the decreased buoyancy would help us go faster. This was not the case. The only thing it accomplished was to make us cold.
After completing the snorkel Pete took us out diving where Kim and I buddied up and we went on two Dives.
The first dive to Alien Rock was a 40 minute dive. We were happily plodding along, spotting Octopus, Fire worms, Cleaner Shrimp, Hermit Crabs, Trumpet fish, Garden eels, Anemones, Atlantic & Diamond Lizard fish and Greater weavers.
Our second dive was to Swim Through for 35 minutes, Kim leading. Same as before, we plodded along, getting more familiar with the site. We also located a beautiful, big Anemone, we will remember it's location for next time.

Friday
Today was the day for our night dive. We had an early start in the morning.

The positive to this was that it' s very quiet!
We met at the Dive Centre and got our kit ready, and went straight to the Marina. After a thorough briefing from Pete, we loaded the boat up and set off to Poco Naufragio.
We got our kit on, got in the water and as we descended, we saw some Luminescent Algae.
I had forgotten about seeing this on my last night dive (in Honduras some time ago), so it was a good memory recall.

During the dive, which was Kim’s first ever night dive, we could see some of the aquatic life behaving differently to during the day.
Kim also experienced her first Jellyfish sting to the face, but learning from my mistake, she put on some vinegar instead of the awful stuff the chemist gave me.
We completed the dive and headed back to the Dive Centre to get on with a few pool skills again. We did very well, scoring 5 out of 5 for most of them.

Saturday 
Today we all had a late start, 10am, after yesterday’s early start.
Today was to be special as this was the first day Kim and I will be left to hold the fort as Pete and Melissa are off to see Teide Divers for the Carnival at Puerto de la Cruz.
It was a day full of admin, cleaning and window displays!!!
I started with the admin while Kim worked on the PC.
Once this was done we got started with the window displays. After two failed attempts earlier on in the week to produce a stunning display, we continually questioned our decisions and eventually we finished after revisiting the task numerous times.
My missus called in with some food... I had asked for some Pringles and peperami's, I did get said items but also received a banana and an apple...... Not to happy with that, but with the best intentions I'm sure.
Begrudgingly I ate the banana and left the apple for Kim. Once done with lunch we got started on cleaning.
5 O’clock rolled in and all we had to do was feed the fish and lock up. Good day in the office!!

Sunday
Sunday, my day off. Great plans to sleep in relax and do a lot of nothing.

Monday
We had an 8 am start today, although Kim had not listened / asked as she arrived at 7.30 am like normal.
I was on boat duty as Kim was off to do her PADI Search and Recovery Specialty dives as part of her PADI Master Scuba Diver certification.

While on the boat, Kim had to show her skills in tying knots, which she seemed to have some trouble with.
Then, it was my turn to tie knots, but somehow I couldn’t get it right either.
After being shown how to tie knots earlier in the week, I had forgot !
This was quickly revised, with Pete, and I am back on track with them now.
After Kim’s dives with Pete, we went back to the marina. We washed the kit and rinsed the boat as normal and we headed back to the Dive Centre.
We had quite the accumulation of tanks in the shop so once all the kit was hung to dry, we loaded up the Jeep and went to drop the tanks off for refilling. In recent weeks I have been taking the Mickey out of Melissa for things she is continually saying, i.e. “I’m Cold” and “I’m Hungry”.
So on the car journey back to the shop I said something in a cheeky joking fashion, I can’t remember what exactly but this earned me the punishment of washing the Jeep.
Not a real punishment I thought as I had planned to do it soon anyway, and the sun was beating down. Dread-full….. Having to be outside in the sunshine.
The afternoon followed with a skills session and all of us picking on Kim a lot!

Tuesday
We had an 8.30 am start with Jackie and Phil from Teide Divers joining us and their new intern Lauren. We started with a pool session of skills for Kim and me, along with our Kit exchange.

Meanwhile, Lauren did part of her Confined Open Water’s for her PADI Open Water Diver course.
Next, we were off on the boat for a couple of dives. I led the first one with Phil, Lauren and Jackie, limited to 12m.

All went well with Lauren getting to grasps with being underwater rapidly.
Dive 1 done, it was time for my Search and Recovery assessment dive. With the lift bag and rope in hand, Kim and I descended, starting with an expanding square search pattern.

We soon located the missing item. With yesterdays knots review, all went well I think.
I tied a bowline on the lift bag and then secured the tank. Adding small amounts of air into the lift bag and checking resistance, I feel I conducted a reasonably well controlled ascent.
Time to head back to the Marina. Then back to the Dive Centre, sorted all the kit out for drying and then lunch.
We all made our way to the Aberdeen Steak house for a ritual English Breakfast and a beer.
Teide Divers left, and we had a quiet afternoon in the Dive Centre, working on small projects we had been given to do.

So that’s week five done.

It has only come into my mind that my time here is nearly done! Best make the most of week 6.

Harry